And You Call Yourself the Doctors
by Spydurwebb
Summary: After the events of Bullet Time, Sarah Jane was shot and is presumed killed.  We know she didn't die, but who takes care of her?


_A/N: Yea, just a little bit of timey-wimey crackness that comes after the events of the book Bullet Time. All you need to know is that Sarah has been shot and it's ambivalent as to whether she survives or not. Of course we all know she does, but what really happened?_

AND YOU CALL YOURSELF THE DOCTOR(S)

Royal Navy Captain Harry Sullivan walked into the hospital, a set expression on his face. He made his way quickly to a specific room, not speaking or acknowledging anyone on the way to his destination. Just as he went to open the door, another physician stepped out, putting a hand on his arm to stop him. 'Excuse me, sir, this is a restricted area.'

'I'm Captain Sullivan, I am expected.'

'Ah yes, Captain Sullivan, my apologies, Sir. I'm Doctor Andrews, I'm the one that called you earlier.'

'How is she?' Harry asked, concern etching his features.

'It's pretty serious. They stabilised her as quickly as possible and got her transferred, but she's still in critical condition.'

'Was anyone with her at the time?'

Harry watched as the doctor quickly flipped through the papers on the clipboard he held. 'No, doesn't look like it. Apparently there was a guy named Tom Ryder that confessed, but he's still in jail.'

Harry pointed at the clipboard. 'Her chart?' When Andrews nodded, Harry reached for it. 'May I?' He took the chart and flipped through it quickly before looking back up at the doctor. 'Anything else I should know?'

'No, Sir.' Harry nodded and started to make his way into the room when Andrews stopped him again. 'Sir, someone is in there with her already.'

'What?' Harry shook his head, 'No matter.' He walked into the room, his eyes immediately taking in Sarah's condition, especially how pale and fragile she looked.

The Doctor looked up from where he'd been focusing solely on Sarah. He pushed his hat to the back of his brown curls with one hand, even as his other hand stayed tightly around one of Sarah's. 'Ah, Harry, I've been expecting you.'

Harry slowly walked to the opposite of Sarah's hospital bed. 'I just looked at her chart. It doesn't look good, Doctor.'

'I know, Harry,' the Doctor's voice was deep with worry. He turned back to Sarah and pushed a stray hair away from her eyes. 'She's not regained consciousness. They say she lost a lot of blood.'

'She was barely stable enough for them to transfer her, from what I read.'

Just then, the door flew open and two more men came in, one practically dragging the other. A tall man with close cropped hair and big ears wearing a leather jacket had the shorter man by the question mark jumper. The tall man pushed the shorter one towards the bed. 'This is all your fault. Apologise.'

'She's alive?' the shorter man exclaimed, his worry evident as he looked down at Sarah. 'I thought she died.'

'You're just lucky she's not, or you'd have to answer to me,' the taller man said, his Northern accent strong. 'You're an idiot!'

Harry looked over at the Doctor, but the Doctor was focused on the two newcomers. Finally, the Doctor spoke up. 'No one can answer to anyone, not if you want to keep the timelines in check.'

The tall man looked at the Doctor. 'What are you doing here?'

'She's my Sarah Jane.'

'Excuse me,' Harry finally said, 'But would either one of you like to tell me who you are?'

'Still an imbecile, great,' the tall man said sarcastically.

Harry ignored him. 'You are going to disturb my patient and I'm going to ask you all to leave.'

Yet another man entered the door. 'Harry's right,' the newest man said instantly, even as he ran his hand through his spiky hair. Rather than looking into the eyes of the other men, he focused on his trainers. 'Aren't any of us supposed to be here, at least not if we want to keep Sarah's timeline uncontaminated.'

'Uncontaminated!' the Doctor pushed the Northerner and the short man to the side as he stalked up to the newcomer. 'Who are you to talk about contaminating the timelines?'

The Doctor in pin-stripes popped on his glasses before looking intensely into the blue eyes of his predecessor. He reached out and touched the scarf. 'I always did like that scarf.' He focused on the eyes again. 'I'm you. And she's still my Sarah Jane, and I'm going to tell you all to leave.'

The shortest Doctor approached Sarah's bedside. 'I thought I'd done it this time. I thought I'd finally manipulated things too much.'

'You almost did,' the Northern Doctor said with a frown. 'Fortunately, she forgave me, but you never were her favourite.'

The Doctor with the curls smiled his trademark Cheshire cat grin. 'I think you'll find I was her favourite.'

The spiky haired Doctor pointed at the door, 'Enough, go, all three of you.' He looked down as his three previous selves each made their way to Sarah's bedside in turn, took her hand in theirs, kissing it lightly before making their way to the door.

The curly haired Doctor stopped and looked back at Sarah. 'Are you sure about this? She's very special to me, you know.'

'Yes, of course, she's special to me too.' The spiky haired Doctor reached out and put his hand on the other Doctor's shoulder. 'Don't worry, she'll be fine, I promise. I'll take good care of her.'

'Very well.' With a nod to Harry, he turned and walked out the door, the ends of his scarf following after him.

Once the Doctor and Harry were alone with Sarah, the Doctor walked over to stand by Sarah's bed. 'It's touch and go for another couple of days, but she'll be fine.'

Harry regarded the young man. 'Doctor?' he questioned.

The Doctor smiled, 'Oh yes. Now, I have to go. Look after her Harry, but do me a favour, she can't know that I was here, that any of me were here.'

'She'll want to know, Doctor.'

'Trust me, Harry, I'm going to be the last person she's going to want to see for a while. That short version of me you just saw, he was there when this happened. She pulled the trigger herself to keep me from having to make an impossible choice.'

Harry's eyes widened at his admission, but the Doctor carried on. 'It'll be a long time before she can forgive me, and really, before I can forgive myself. But she can't know. It isn't our time yet. That is yet to come. You know how these timey-wimey things are, Harry.'

'If you say so, Doctor. I'll do as you ask.'

The Doctor leaned over and kissed Sarah on the forehead. 'I'll see you again one day, my Sarah Jane.'

Without another word, the Doctor left the room, and Harry just watched him go before turning his attention back to Sarah.


End file.
